1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Prior Arts
Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) connectors provide a storage interface for ATAPI (Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface) devices and hard disk drives, which are main storage peripheral devices of computer systems. Conventionally, a Serial ATA connector comprises an insulating housing and a plurality of terminals received in the housing. Such Serial ATA connectors can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,552 and Taiwan Patent Publication Nos. 493301, 493804, and 509393. Generally, the insulative housing of the Serial ATA connector includes a main portion, a mating portion extending from the main portion arranging the terminals thereon and one side arm extending from one lateral side of the main portion. The side arm defines a groove inside for guiding an insertion of a complementary mating connector. A space is defined between the lateral edge of the mating portion and the adjacent side arm. However, such conventional Serial ATA connectors usually suffer from a breaking problem over a period of use, being subjected to repeated inserting, extracting and shaking of a mated cable connector, which will adversely influence the signal transmission. Specifically, the housing will be easily broken along a vertical line on the side arm where the side arm connects to the main portion when the complementary connector is pulled in a right-and-left direction repeatedly. Similarly, the housing will be also easily broken along a horizontal line on the side arm where the side arm connects to the main portion and on the mating portion where the mating portion connects to the main portion when the complementary mating connector is pulled up and down repeatedly.
Hence, it is desirable to enhance the structural stability of Serial ATA connectors to ensure the signal transmission quality.
Accordingly, it is a major object of the present invention to provide a Serial ATA connector having a metallic shell for improving the rigidity of the connector and improving overall connector integrity.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a Serial ATA connector in accordance with the present invention for engaging a complementary connector and for mounting on a printed circuit board, includes an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals received in the housing, and a metallic shell partially covering the housing. The metallic shell integrally forms a body section and a retention section rewards extending from the body section. The retention section includes a pair of retention portions secured to the housing. The metallic shell also has a plurality of mounting pads extending from the body section and the retention section for soldering the connector on the printed circuit board.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.